Serpent Rider

A group of three evil beings in Raven Software’s computer games, Heretic, Hexen, Hexen 2, and Heretic 2. Their names are D’Sparil, Korax, and Eidolon. According to the legend written in the Hexen 2 manual, a magician once piloted a great ship through the heavens. The ship was caught in an Aether storm and driven against the sphere that enclosed the universe. This collision resulted in a crack in the sphere’s crystal surface, allowing three unspeakably evil beings from beyond the universe to enter. The magician sacrificed his life to repair the crack, but the Serpent Riders had already passed through.

While all three Serpent Riders had great magical power and unquenchable greed, their physical attributes varied greatly. Despite the name Serpent Riders, D’Sparil was the only one of the three who was actually seen riding on a serpent. Each Serpent Rider amassed an army of evil creatures to do their bidding, and each took control of a separate world. It is the job of the heroes in these games to free their worlds from the foul clutches of the Serpent Riders. Although the storylines in the game manuals suggest that the Serpent Riders worked cooperatively at times, they are found separately in the games. As they are the central villains of the series, these four games are sometimes referred to collectively as “The Serpent Riders Games”.